Buffalo Wild Wings has a (chicken) bone to pick with whoever posted a series of profane tweets from its Twitter account Friday night.
Racial epithets and other crude language tweeted from the Minneapolis-based restaurant chain’s verified Twitter account weren’t sent by its social media staff, a spokesperson said afterwards.
“Buffalo Wild Wings’ Twitter account was hacked,” a representative for the company said in a statement Friday evening. “We’re sorry that our fans had to see those awful posts, which obviously did not come from us.”
“We are in touch with our Twitter representatives and will pursue the appropriate action against the individuals involved,” the statement said.
Whoever accessed the chain’s Twitter account sent a handful of offensive tweets to their over 700,000 social media followers during the course of roughly 20 minutes starting around 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Tweets sent during the span included multiple instances of the N-word, a derogatory comment directed at media personality Tariq Nasheed and a coarse description of the chain’s “secret recipe,” as well as a swipe at fast-food chain Wendy’s and a reference to Madeleine McCann, a British girl who went missing in in 2007.
Buffalo Wild Wings eventually regained controlled of its account and subsequently deleted the tweets.
The unauthorized posts “weren’t funny,” Buffalo Wild Wings tweeted later Friday.
Twitter did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Founded in 1982, Buffalo Wild Wings currently runs over 1,200 casual dining restaurants in the U.S. and abroad. The chain was acquired earlier this year by Inspire Brands, formerly known as Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc., as the result of a $2.9 billion acquisition.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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